RUMOR: Mac Mini still isn’t dead – refresh possibly on the way

Last year Apple Insider told us on multiple occasions that the Mac Mini was dead. Over and over we were told that their “insider sources” had confirmed that the little Mac was not long for this world. Each time I found the rumors frustrating and without enough details to consider in any way valid. (I ranted it about it here and here)

Well, on Friday Apple Insider posted an article about how they are “eating their words” and the Mac Mini is about to receive a refresh, and is ready to “rock on”.

So, if you believe the rumors – then Apple has given the Mac Mini a stay of execution for at least another 12 months.

Frankly, I don’t think the Mac Mini was ever in danger of going anywhere. The new refreshes, according to AI will be consistent with the current Macbook internals when the units are refreshed.

So – what do you think? Do you think the Mac Mini was on its deathbed and the original AI rumors were correct? Or do you think that they just ran with some less than credible info an announced the death of a product when everything was actually just fine?

Comments

Probably was done based on the fact that we didn’t get anything refreshed for several months, although there might have been one or two speed bumps in there. I wonder why they haven’t made any design changes, although I guess you can’t do much, other than a change of color or materials. I just wish they’d put in a better graphics card, but then, like the Macbook, I guess it would be pointless then to have a “pro” line…

Wasn’t the mini aimed at pulling in the few extra switchers that were still turned off by the $1700 iMac pricetag? It would seem silly to kill it, unless the numbers show it hasn’t been a factor and is only adding to production costs. Are there any swicthers out there that changed over because of the mini???

I switched with the Mini the day it was released, because a Mac had finally come into my price range. I had wanted to switch for years, but simply couldn’t afford it at the time, and when the Mini was introduced, I was instantly hooked.

I think Mini is great on so many levels, that it would be insane for Apple to kill it. Serious upgrade and even different look would be fine, but Apple (and customers!) need a little entry level machine!

I think it will last but I’d rather they redesigned the case so it wasn’t so chubby. Need to get that badboy on the Subway diet.

Also I assume its big because it has a 3.5″ drive (I think) if thats the case, drop a 2.5″ in there and slim that badboy down. They make 500GB 2.5″ drives now which makes the smaller ones that much cheaper.

I was impressed by the Mac Mini the first time I used it at a friend’s place. The computer itself was so quiet, some times I didn’t know if it was on or off. That was a relief from my noisy PC tower. I must say I was less impressed by Mac OS X 10.4.6 because it looked too fruity to me. Also, it appeared that Tiger was the only UNIX version that lacked a decent implementation of virtual desktops, a terrible sin in my mind.

I would have bought a Mac Mini if it weren’t for two major impediments : – Apple is notorious for introducing models that look great but are poorely designed, like the old Cube or the more recent G5 (with their crappy power supplies). – most reviewers sang the praise of Tiger. Then came Leopard and by most accounts, that cat was ill conceived. Apparently, Apple dropped the ball on that one.

So, for the time being, I’ll stick to my Windows XP and Mandriva dual-boot, the latter being my favourite operating system.